JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Thursday called on
South Sudan’s warring parties to release 900 civilians who were
abducted between April and August.

A joint report by
the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights
Office says abducted young men and boys were forced to be
fighters or used as porters when fighting spiked in April in
Western Equatoria region after months of relative calm.

UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a report that women
and young girls who were abducted by opposition forces were
paraded and lined up for commanders to choose as “wives.”

“Most of the
abducted civilians are, as far as we know, still being held
captive,” Bachelet said in a statement issued in Juba.

She called on the
Sudan People’s Liberation Army in-Opposition (SPLA-IO )to
immediately release the civilians, particularly children who are
as young as 12.

According to the UN
report, the rebel forces intensified attacks against villagers
and targeted civilians following several months of relative calm
in April, forcing 24,000 people to flee their homes.

It also said several
civilians were injured when government forces of Sudan People’s
Liberation Army (SPLA) launched offensives to remove SPLA-IO
forces, as these operations failed to distinguish between
civilians and combatants.

The report
documented SPLA-IO attacks on at least 28 villages, a settlement
of internally displaced persons and a refugee camp, in Gbudue
and Tambura.

“Serious abuses of
international human rights and humanitarian law occurred during
these attacks, including unlawful killings, abduction, rape,
sexual slavery, forced recruitment, and destruction of
property,” says the UN.

The report calls on
the government to hold perpetrators of abuses and violations
detailed in the report to account.

Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS
David Shearer said the fighting intensified while warring
parties were negotiating a new peace agreement, despite positive
reconciliation efforts in the affected community at the time.

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EARLIER REPORTS:

270,000 children risk
starvation in South Sudan: aid agency

JUBASouth Sudan (Xinhua) --At least 270,000 children in South Sudan are severely
malnourished and face greater risk of starvation, with some
20,000 expected to die from extreme hunger before the end of
year, aid group Save the Children warned on Thursday.

The aid agency said
nearly half of South Sudan’s population is facing extreme
hunger.

“Malnourished
children have substantially reduced immune systems and are at
least three times more likely to contract and die from diseases
like cholera and pneumonia than healthy children,” said Deidre
Keogh, Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan.

The new findings
came barely a month after another report by three United Nations
agencies and the government that the conflict, a biting economic
crisis and insecurity in the past three months pushed 6.1
million South Sudanese into extreme hunger, and 36,000 others
facing risk of famine.

South Sudan
descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has
created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
The UN estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been
displaced internally and externally.

A peace deal signed
in August 2015 collapsed following renewed violence in the
capital Juba in July 2016.

Save the Children
said the recently signed revitalized peace agreement provides
hope for millions of children if implemented effectively.

“To ensure South
Sudan’s children are protected from a further decline into
starvation, Save the Children calls for access to children in
need to be guaranteed, humanitarian assistance to be enhanced
and sustained,” Keogh said.

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Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni and South African
deputy president David Mabuza discuss South Sudan

KAMPALA Uganda (Xinhua) --Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and visiting
South African deputy president David Mabuza have urged support
for the national dialogue in South Sudan to end years of
fighting that has killed tens of thousands people and displaced
millions of others.

A State House
statement issued here on Wednesday said the two leaders noted
that the developments in South Sudan have assumed a positive
direction toward achieving national dialogue.

The two leaders met
on Tuesday at State House Entebbe, where Mabuza took a special
message to Museveni from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Uganda, according to
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, hosts over 1
million South Sudan refugees.

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Sudanese president reiterates
concern about peace process in South Sudan

KHARTOUM Sudan (Xinhua) --Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday
reiterated his country’s concern about the peace process in
neighboring South Sudan.

Al-Bashir made the
remarks in his address to the Foreign Ministry workers after the
first meeting of the National Council for Foreign Polices at the
ministry building.

“Sudan’s peace
cannot be separated from the peace in the region. We believe the
peace in South Sudan is the biggest step to achieve a lasting
and comprehensive peace in Sudan,” he said.

The Sudanese
president also announced the appointment of Jamal Al-Sheikh as
his special envoy to South Sudan to follow up the implementation
of the peace agreement in the world’s youngest country.

Earlier in the day,
al-Bashir chaired the first meeting of the National Council for
Foreign Polices to discuss issues including the ongoing efforts
to complete South Sudan’s peace process and begin the peace
process in the Central African Republic, Sudan’s Foreign
Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed said in a statement.

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South Sudan rebels deny holding
POWs, political detainees

JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) --South Sudan’s main rebel group, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), on Wednesday
denied holding prisoners of war (POWs) and political detainees
in its ranks, amid reports that the rebels are still holding
some prisoners.

The government and
several rebel groups on Sept. 12 signed a new power-sharing deal
aimed at ending the conflict that has devastated the world’s
youngest nation.

The pact demanded
the parties to free all prisoners detained in relation to the
conflict. South Sudan’s national security service early this
month said it had freed at least 20 detainees following the
signing of the peace agreement.

Lam Paul Gabriel,
SPLA-IO deputy military spokesperson, said his group has no
prisoners to free since all persons detained by the SPLA-IO were
released early this year.

“We don’t have
prisoners of war and political detainees. We were the first to
release prisoners of war and political detainees when the
cessation of hostilities agreement was signed last year, and we
released all prisoners in January,” Gabriel told Xinhua by
phone.

South Sudan
descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has
created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.

The UN estimates
that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced
internally and externally. A peace deal signed in August 2015
collapsed in July 2016, following renewed violence in the
capital, Juba.

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South Sudan denies killing and
maiming children during conflict

JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) --The South Sudan government on Wednesday denied
that its army killed and maimed children as alleged in a United
Nations report that accuses the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)
and rebel groups of violations.

Information minister
Michael Makuei Lueth said the figures on the atrocities
committed on children mentioned in the latest report by Virginia
Gamba, special representative of the UN secretary-general for
children and armed conflict before the UN Security Council (UNSC),
are concocted and not substantiated.

“If they can give us
a copy of the (individual) names then we can act,” said Makuei
in Juba. “These are reports that are written by people who have
decided to take advantage of the plight of the people of South
Sudan.”

The UN report,
released on Monday, said over 9,200 children were victims of
grave violations between October 2014 and June 2018.

“Grave violations
against children were often interconnected: abduction took place
for the purpose of recruitment; boys and girls recruited were
killed or maimed or sexually abused,” said Gamba.

The report said
children were also used to commit atrocities against civilians
and other children, thus perpetuating the cycle of violence.

It also noted that
over 5,700 children were verified as having been recruited and
used and nearly 2,000 were abducted and more than 980 children
were killed or maimed, both by government forces and armed
groups.

It said that sexual
violence, including against children, was used as a tactic of
war and as a form of collective punishment.

More than 650
children were verified as being sexually abused during the
reporting period, with 75 percent of the cases involving
gruesome gang rapes, the report said, noting the actual numbers
were likely higher due to under-reporting in fear of
stigmatization.

“If they are genuine
they should have sent it to us first before tabling it in the UN
Security Council,” Makuei said. “Unfortunately, these are
reports written in secrecy. They are confidential and these are
people paid to write such reports.”

South Sudan
descended into civil war in late 2013. The UN estimates that
about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally
and externally.

UNITED NATIONS New York (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for children and armed
conflict on Monday deplored as dismaying the level of violence
and brutality endured by children in South Sudan as shown in a
new UN report.

According to the
secretary-general’s report on children and armed conflict in
South Sudan, over 9,200 children of the unrest-ridden country
were verified by the United Nations as victims of grave
violations in the nearly four years it covered (Oct. 2014 - June
2018).

“Grave violations
against children were often interconnected: abduction took place
for the purpose of recruitment, boys and girls recruited were
killed or maimed or sexually abused,” said Virginia Gamba,
special representative of the UN secretary-general for children
and armed conflict.

“Many children were
also used to commit atrocities against civilians and other
children, thus perpetuating the cycle of violence,” she added.

Across the country,
more than 5,700 children were verified as having been recruited
and used. In addition, almost 2,000 were abducted and more than
980 children were killed or maimed, both by government forces
and armed groups, the report said.

Moreover, sexual
violence, including against children, was used as a tactic of
war and as a form of collective punishment.

More than 650
children were verified as sexually abused during the reporting
period, with 75 percent of the cases involving gruesome gang
rapes, the report said, noting the actual numbers were likely to
be higher due to underreporting in fear of stigmatization.

Efforts to protect
children, such as the UN’s implementation of the Action Plan
with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, was seriously disrupted
by the outbreak of conflict during the reporting period, the
report pointed out.

“It is urgent to
address impunity for perpetrators and revise the existing Action
Plan into a comprehensive one to end and prevent all grave
violations against children,” Gamba said.

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At least 17 civilians killed in
fresh fighting in South Sudan’s Yei

JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) -- At least 17 civilians have been killed and
several others injured in clashes between two rebel factions in
South Sudan’s border town of Yei in the southwest of the
country, the police said on Tuesday.

Police spokesman
Daniel Justine said the latest fighting between the main rebel
group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In-Opposition (SPLA-IO)
and National Salvation Front (NAS) in the border town of Yei has
also caused mass displacement of civilians into the bushes in
the area.

“We regret the loss
of lives of our people at a time when the country is in full
gear of peace implementation, it is very painful,” Justine told
Xinhua in Juba.

He said local
authorities and national government are supporting the displaced
population with food assistance, saying the army has been told
to be on high alert to protect the lives of civilians in the
area.

Lam Paul Gabriel,
SPLA-IO deputy military spokesman, blamed NAS forces loyal to
General Thomas Cirilo Swaka for attacking their base in Minyori
and Logo in Yei area respectively.

“On Monday, the
forces of the National Salvation Front attacked our position in
Yei killing five civilians and injured dozens of others,” Lam
said in a statement.

“This is a direct
declaration of war by the forces of General Cirilo against the
signed revitalized agreement since he refused to sign it in
September,” he added.

Lam also accused the
government troops based in Mboro, Wau State in the western part
of the country of constant offences against his faction in Ngisa,
Tado, and Ngoku since the beginning of this month, an allegation
denied by a South Sudan’s army spokesperson.

“These attacks have
been premeditated and planned by commanders of the regime in
Juba to widen their territory and deny any establishment of
cantonment sites in the area,” he stressed.

The fighting comes
after President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar inked in
September the revitalized peace deal mediated by Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir under the auspices of the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an east
African bloc.

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South Sudan seeks to transform
agriculture to help beat hunger by 2030

JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) --South Sudan said Tuesday it will seek to adopt
modern technology to transform its agriculture to beat hunger by
2030.

Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac,
minister of agriculture and food security, said the government
is ready to support the agriculture sector by investing in
irrigation to move away from rain-fed agriculture that risks
food insecurity due to climate change.

“This conflict has
severely affected our agricultural sector despite our country
being endowed with fertile land, adequate rainfall and water,”
Onyoti said in Juba on the occasion of the World Food Day. “Our
policy needs to change from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation.
We need to provide support for farmers to move from subsistence
to commercial farming.”

A recent Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) report about levels of food
insecurity indicates that more than half the population of South
Sudan, or 6.1 million people, face severe food shortages as
hunger continues to plague the country.

Nyikuac thanked
World Food Program and UNICEF for helping South Sudan, but
discourged “supplying a person with free food all the time.”

“We accept (that)
for the small children, disabled, elderly people but not people
like (able-bodied) us,” he said. “We have to cooperate in order
to give food for work.”

“We have to
discourage free food because it makes our people lazy,” Nyikuac
said.

Oil and mining have
dominated South Sudan’s economy in terms of revenue,
contributing to 98 percent of the budget since the country’s
independence in 2011.

South Sudan
experienced famine conditions in early 2017 before humanitarian
agencies embarked on massive efforts to help millions in need.
UN agencies warn that hunger remains in some parts of the
country due to intermittent fighting between government troops
and rebels despite the signing of a fresh peace deal in late
August.

Simon Cammelbeek,
WFP deputy country director, said although food security has
improved slightly with the harvest in September, continuing
conflict and economic collapse have destroyed lives and
livelihoods, leaving millions of people in need of humanitarian
assistance to survive.

“We are distributing
life-saving emergency food supplies, providing food in return
for work to construct and rehabilitate community assets, school
meals, and special products for the prevention and treatment of
malnutrition in children and pregnant and nursing women,” he
said.

The WFP is also
buying grains directly from small-holder farmers through a
network of aggregation centers. The practise allows farmers to
market their crops and get paid for it, hence promptly
generating much needed income while stimulating future
production, Cammelbeek said.

For South Sudan to
fight hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030,
Cammelbeek said, it is imperative to accelerate and scale up
actions to strengthen the resilience and restore people’s
livelihoods.

“We welcome the
latest peace deal and hope... that it will result in actual
changes on the ground,” he said.

“After five years of
civil war and decades of fighting before independence, the
people of South Sudan, especially the displaced and refugees,
need peace to be able to return home and rebuild their lives,”
Cammelbeek said.